One Night Stand
by ThereIsOnlyZuul
Summary: A one night stand that Tifa's wanted for a long, long time... Rated M for language and sexual situations. ONE-SHOT.


I'm a serious Tifa and Cloud shipper - it was actually the first couple that I ever shipped! Why it's taken me this long to write anything about the pair I'm not sure, but here it is, a sexy one-shot between the two! FYI, everyone is slightly out of character and it takes place (loosely) in the Advent Children storyline!

Hopefully you enjoy it! And if you do, please review!

Cheers!

* * *

"How's business lately, Teef?"

Tifa jumped, startled by the sound of a man's voice. She had been lost deep in her own thoughts as she emptied out ash trays and cleaned glasses, intending to close up 7th Heaven for the night and go to bed. As she looked up, she mentally crossed her fingers it would be Cloud. He'd been gone for over two months and Tifa had hoped vaguely he would return on each day that passed.

"Oh, hello Reno," she smiled as the lanky red head strolled into the bar, his hands tucked deep into his pockets.

 _It's a good thing you don't get your hopes up anymore, Tifa._ She thought to herself as she tucked her bar rag into her back pocket.

"So…?" Reno rocked back and forth on his heels, apparently waiting for Tifa to say something.

"Yes, Reno?"

"How's business?"

"If it weren't for you, I probably would have closed up long ago," she smiled, knowing that this is what the ever-full-of-himself Reno wanted to hear.

"Fantastic! How about a pint for your best customer then?" He slid onto a bar stool and leaned against the counter.

"Reno, I appreciate you coming in here every night to support the bar and check in on me and the kids, but don't you ever get tired of waking up in the morning with a hangover?"

"Not as much as you must be tired of waking up alone every morning." Tifa shot a glare at Reno. He was one of the few people that knew her true feelings for Cloud Strife and he let no moment go by when he didn't remind her. Of course Tifa had the upper hand when he teased her in her own bar.

"We're closing up for the night, Reno. So… good night."

"Oh, you're not just gonna kick me out on my sober ass, are you Teef?"

"Don't make me call the police again, Reno."

"Alright, alright. I'm going." Reno threw his arms in the air in defeat. He headed towards the door but before stepping through to the darkened street, he turned back. "Teef… you heard from Cloud?"

Tifa didn't have to say a thing, Reno knew the answer. He gave her a weak smile before exiting the bar. Tifa went around the other side of the counter and began to lift the stools off of the ground. All she needed to do was sweep, mop, and lock the door and she'd be able to end this day and hope tomorrow would bring Cloud home.

"How about a pint?"

Tifa heard the door open, but she didn't bother turning around: why bother when she knew it was Reno trying to get under her skin. "We're closed now."

"I think you could spare some time to have a pint with me."

"I said we're closed, Reno. Go home and get drunk there!"

"Reno? Has it been so long you don't recognize my voice?"

Tifa turned to see Cloud standing behind her. "Cloud!" She dropped the stool she had in her hands and it clanged to the ground, sounding like an atomic bomb in the utter silence of the bar. This was such a shock–Tifa had wished for two months now that this exact situation would occur but it was still a surprise to see him standing there: jacket slung over his back, motorcycle keys dangling from his fingers. It was nearly a big enough surprise to make her forget that Cloud had completely disappeared from her life for the umpteenth time and that she was angry…

Nearly.

She was still mad as hell.

"Hey Teef."

"Don't you 'hey Teef' me, Cloud Strife! Where have you been?"

Cloud shrugged. "Working things out."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "You said that the last time you disappeared, and the time before that, and the time before that. I know you've got things to work out, but what about your delivery service? What about the bar and the kids? What about me? We worry about you… we need you."

"Tifa, _you_ don't need anybody–"

"Don't tell me what I need!" Tifa yelled, cutting Cloud off. "Don't you care about us at all?"

"Yes, Tifa, I care about you… but–"

"But nothing!" Tifa shouted again. She always had had a problem keeping her temper from getting the best of her when she was around Cloud.

"Tifa, don't start with this again. I've told you before–"

"You care about poor, dead Aerith more than Marlene or me or Denzel–he's sick, Cloud, with no cure coming and he knows it." Tifa's eyes blurred with tears at the thought of poor, sick Denzel. "But… but being with you makes him feel better. He asks for you every morning. It breaks my heart to tell him you're not here."

"And what about you, Tifa?"

"What about me?" Tifa grabbed the stool off the ground, slamming it on the counter. She grabbed the rag from her pocket and angrily wiped the bar. She had already cleaned the counter but she needed busy work. She needed anything to keep her from spinning around and kicking Cloud through the brick wall of the bar.

"How do you feel every morning when you wake up and I'm not here? Does it break your heart, too?" Tifa turned quickly and as she saw the look on Cloud's face, her skin crawled. There was something in his eyes that left her unsettled and that, of course, made her angry.

"Fuck you, Cloud! You've changed so much since we were kids–" Cloud cut Tifa off this time.

"Well a lot of shit has happened since we were kids, Tifa. Or had you failed to notice all the destruction and death around you? I mean, why should you, you've always been blissfully stupid to everything around you."

"You son of a bitch. You SOLIDER wanna-be–"

Cloud grabbed Tifa roughly by her arms, holding them stiffly at her sides. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare bring up SOLIDER."

"You know, I'm beginning to realize something about you." Tifa smirked as she stared into Cloud's eyes.

"What's that?" He asked as he dug his fingers harder into Tifa's soft flesh. Tifa didn't bother to struggle: if Cloud meant to strike out, she could easily defend herself and they both knew that.

"I'm beginning to realize that you cause a lot of pain when you leave, but you cause even more when you come back."

Cloud paused, doubt spreading through his mind and across his handsome face. The harsh look that had clouded his eyes before had quickly dissipated and was replaced with his usual sad and mournful gaze. "Do you… do you really mean that?"

Tifa sighed loudly. She searched Cloud's face, stared into his sad eyes. For all of Cloud's bravado, for everything he'd been through, for all the battles he'd won, he was just a child. A scared child. Only a moment before he had been angry enough to mock her, but now he just looked sad and tired and completely defeated. Tifa's own anger drained as she beheld him. Life had been hard on Cloud and apparently his last quest had not held the answers he sought.

"You're right Tifa. I do cause more pain then I'm worth."

"Cloud, I didn't mean that–"

"I'm not fit to help myself, let alone anyone else. I just spread pain wherever I go." He dropped his hands from Tifa's arms, his eyes drooped to the floor. Tifa wiped the tears out of her own eyes before throwing her arms around Cloud in a tight, possessive hug. "Tifa?"

"I've missed you Cloud, and I'm sorry that we always have to fight like this. Let's just start this all over again, huh?"

Cloud smiled, Tifa could sense it, and he wrapped his arms around Tifa to return her hug. "Alright, we'll start again… um… hey, Teef."

"Hello Cloud."

Cloud let go of Tifa and backed away, standing awkwardly: an arm's length away. "I don't want to bother you, but I need a hot shower and a bed for the night."

"Not before a pint though." Tifa took the stool she had just slammed onto the counter and put it back down for Cloud. She moved to the other side of the bar and grabbed a pint glass. "Still drink the stuff that's as dark as night?"

Cloud smiled as he took a seat. "Yeah. And if the kitchen is still open I'd like to place an order for your amazing triple cheese burger."

Tifa smiled as she slid a full pint towards Cloud. "I guess the kitchen can open for a burger. You just better hope that Reno doesn't see the smoke from the grill and think we're open, I've already given him the bum's rush once today."

Cloud took a deep drink of his frothy, dark pint before remarking: "You'd think he'd have learned by now."

"None of us ever learn anything." Tifa remarked from the kitchen. She had turned on the grill, slapped on half a pound of ground beef. The fat from the meat sizzled and splattered. "It's why he fits in so well here with us."

Reno never learned anything. Nor did Cloud. Nor did Tifa. They were all cursed to go around and around in the same circles they had always moved in. Cloud to be loyal to those he had loved and felt he had let down, all the while never realizing that by doing this, he was harshly shunning those who loved him now. Tifa to hide whatever true feelings she had for Cloud behind a tough outer shell that she showed to others and made them believe it couldn't be cracked, even though it cracked every night when she lay awake in bed, wishing Cloud was with her…

Cloud's burger was done. It was time to plate it and serve it. And too, once again, not learn her lesson.

* * *

Tifa stumbled upstairs to go to bed long after her usual time. She had stayed up to keep Cloud company. She had cooked him dinner and served him beer and he told her to go to bed, to not disrupt her regular routine because of him.

Of course she didn't listen.

Tifa Lockhart was not one to take orders. Cloud knew it: he just liked raising her hackles. Tifa would make a face and raise her clenched fist up as if to strike him and Cloud would laugh. Tifa didn't mind terribly, she actually kind of liked it. Fighting was all she and Cloud really knew, and they would never actually come to blows between the two of them.

"I shouldn't have drunk so much," Tifa muttered as she clutched the iron foot board of her bed. She usually didn't drink but Cloud had been drinking and every pint that Tifa had poured for him, he had insisted she pour one for herself. "Cloud, you always seem to get the better of me…"

She stumbled out of her clothing and slipped under the worn quilt that she had had since childhood. The cool sheets felt like heaven on her flushed flesh and when her alcohol-heavy mind hit her feather pillow, she couldn't imagine anything better than sleep.

"There's nothing better than sleep," she half muttered, half yawned, and definitely fully slurred. "I… just wish I wasn't sleeping alone…"

Tifa rolled onto her side. A dark silhouette stood in her doorway. At least, she thought she saw a dark silhouette. Her vision was blurry, her mental capacity slow. Her heavy eyelids drooped and before she could open them again, she was asleep.

* * *

No time at all seemed to pass between when Tifa fell asleep and when she was woken up. Her mattress dipped and the springs creaked loudly. She opened her eyes to find Cloud's muscular body looming over hers. He was sitting beside her, an arm over her body so he was propped up and leaning over her.

"Cloud?" Tifa mumbled, her tongue and mind still thick with alcohol. "What are you doing?"

"Just admiring you," he replied.

Tifa realized that her naked body was completely exposed. She must have kicked off her quilt while her drunken body tossed and turned. She tried to cover her breasts with her arm but Cloud caught her by the wrist. He pushed her arm slowly down until it was above her head: pinned tightly, but not roughly.

"You're too beautiful to cover up…" Tifa couldn't see the look on Cloud's shadowed face, but she felt the small smile that graced his lips. He let go of Tifa's wrist and trailed his hot fingers lightly down her arm. She bit back a moan as his fingers met the skin of her neck. She gasped as his fingertips brushed over her breast. Her nipples stiffened instantly, so receptive to even the slightest touch of Cloud's. It sobered her too. Before her mind had been fuzzy and heavy, but now she felt awake and alert.

Cloud's hand came to rest on Tifa's hip. She bit her lip to stop another moan escaping.

"Tifa… do you want to do this?" Cloud's voice broke the silence and brought goosebumps to Tifa's skin.

 _Is he asking to have… sex?_

Tifa had to bit her lip once more to stop from immediately crying out yes. She was clear-minded now, she should think about her actions. She didn't have alcohol to hide behind.

"Well Tifa?" Cloud asked. He pressed his fingers into her flesh. Urgently. Tifa smiled at his urgency but squirmed under his grip. She was unsure of what to do: to say. This wasn't her first time with a man, but it would be her first time with Cloud… her first time with someone she even remotely cared about and who cared about her.

Although that might have been asking too much considering the look on Cloud's face was not one of love, but one of carnal desire. He had been drinking–was possibly completely drunk–and had had the good luck to stumble into Tifa's room after she had kicked off her clothing and her blankets.

Tifa pushed herself onto her elbow with the intention of sitting, of grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her. But Cloud pushed her–not unkindly–back down onto the mattress.

"Is that a no?"

"Cloud…"

"Yes Tifa?"

Tifa had thought that she could say no to Cloud. She thought she could resist him. Why she thought that she didn't know: she'd loved him since childhood, and yearned for him more than anything while he was away. She looked into his blue eyes and made her choice.

"I am tired of sleeping alone, but make it worth my while."

"Worth your while?"

"You leave me so often. Give me something to remember you by for next time."

Cloud smiled, and even in the dim light of the room, Tifa saw it. That was all the motivation she needed to be brave, to finally make a move on the boy she'd loved since childhood.

"Don't worry Teef, I'll make it worth your while." Cloud leaned down and kissed Tifa. It was the first kiss the two had shared and the butterflies that had been bouncing around Tifa's stomach became a jackhammer. She wanted Cloud, now more than ever. She hungrily kissed back and desperately pulled him towards her.

Cloud's hand moved from Tifa's hip to the small patch of dark hair between her legs. She eagerly spread her legs wider. Cloud held his hand just above her tender flesh though: he made no move to touch her. Tifa would have feared Cloud didn't like what he saw or had changed his mind, but he was trembling nearly as much as she was.

Cloud looked from where his hand precariously hovered to Tifa's face. She bit her lip as his blue eyes met her brown ones. He said nothing but kept his intense eyes trained on hers. A moment passed and Tifa thought maybe she should speak out, but before she could, Cloud found what he was looking for in Tifa's eyes because his quivering fingers met her sex and neither one had anything left to say.


End file.
